Well, I will post a trip report of my 2005 trip in Jan. later, but I just learnt how to post pictures and this was taken about 13 months ago, Jan. '04. It was in front of the Divi at sunset and it is totally unretouched. Does anyone know what that cone of blue light could be? I have several pictures of it. You can see also that it is reflected in the water. I have never seen anything like this and I've been waiting over a year(shame on me) to learn how to post pictures here. Thanks. Stu

Stu great shot!!! Question.. were you taking a photo of the blue cone ,did you actually see it and then take the photo or did it just show up in the photo?? Inquiring minds WANT to know...

Freddie,to answer your question just after the sun set, the blue cone appeared. It was visible to everyone that was watching the sunset, about 15 of us. I have been going to Bonaire since '88 and have never seen this, and we always look for the potential of a green flash so I have seen many sunsets on Bonaire and elsewhere. I took about 5 or so digital pictures to document it but haven't done anything with them until now. The pictures are how it actually appeared. It lasted for about 8 minutes or so.

WOW how cool is that!!! I guess we will all have to start watching for the green flash AND the blue cone!!!

Stu, I recall when that occured but your photo seems to make it more distinct than I remember. At any rate it is a great shot.

Hi Stu, Freddie, and George,

The only optic phenomenon I could find that was anything close is called a sun pillar. I looked it up in the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather and then on line, google, Sun Pillar.

Here are two examples from the Astronomy Picture of the Day archives:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010313.html
and
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011107.html

Sun pillars are formed from reflections of light in the ice crystals in the atmosphere. But how many ice crystals are there in the atmosphere at 11 degrees north latitude? And the colors of the sun pillars NASA has are yellow streaks.

Brilliant shot nonetheless.

Mare

Hi Mare,

Atmospheric physics doesn't follow intuitive logic. There is potentially more ice crystal’s over the tropics than the poles, warmer air carries more moisture than cold air. Basically the air cools by about 2 degrees/1,000 ft in the Troposhere (where all our weather occurs) so if Bonaire is a warm 26 deg at 13,000 ft it will be freezing. At the Tropopause (about 40,000 ft +) it will be about –56 degrees.

Most ice crystals will probably be found above 30,000 ft, if you look at the photo there is some evidence of high thin cloud layer, it almost looks like ripples in the sand.

So your explanation of a refraction through ice crystals is quite feasible.

Take care

Dave

oh and I forgot, great photo

Thank you David, I learned something today.

Mare

That happens quite a bit here in SW Florida. From what I reasoned, it is caused by a cloud very close to the horizon that is very dense and blocks the sunlight. This then causes a "shadow" across the sky which is seen a a dark blue area- the sun is not lighting the sky from underneath. Most people never notice it since they are too busy looking at the sunset. When you are watching a sunset look around a bit more, even behind you. I've taken some really neat cloud pictures while everyone else was looking the other way.

green flash? ha! bars with sunset views have been keeping that myth alive for years now. It's all in your head. Really... the "green flash" is the image burned into your retina by staring at the sun. Blink- green flash! A light bulb will have the same amazing effect.

Thanks for all your input..it seems to be a sun pillar. As for Greg, there is definitley a green flash phenomenon. Actually my wife didn't believe it for years..said something about the Heinekin bottle making things green, until one year she saw 7 in a row, quite distinct. You can check it all out at this web site...http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/

Happy green flashing!

Stu

I seriously doubt that what is in the picture is a sun pillar. Take a better look- a sun pillar reflects light which would cause it to be lighter than the surrounding area. The dark blue area indicates an absence of light .... ie: shadowed area behind a cloud that is close to (above or below) the horizon. The first time I saw one myself, it was actually a good amount of time before sunset and I saw the cloud that was creating it.


(Message edited by GregZ on February 11, 2005)

Greg, I totally agree about the cloud, and you are completely wrong about the green flash. You think the seaside barkeeps association paid off the audobon society to do a put up job in their weather book? If you can take a picture of it, it's not all in your mind. I too, thought it all hooey until I saw one.
I say it's time to seek professional help to ID that sucka.

Greg, go argue with NASA. Green flashes exist. I've seen them.

Here's one from the Astronomy Picture of the Day.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021110.html

Mare

This is the best image I have seen of the Bonaire Green Flash. It appeared in a Sand Dollar Condo brochure sidebar of images; photog unknown.

Ok, I knew I had a picture of the cloud shadows.